


A Possibility

by myscribblingquill



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Study, Daydreaming, F/M, Fluff, Kinda, Marauders, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-03 00:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11520504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myscribblingquill/pseuds/myscribblingquill
Summary: During a celebration of the end of sixth year Mary muses on what might be in her future.





	A Possibility

**Author's Note:**

> For [Grace](https://prongsno.tumblr.com) because she made me ship them and then corrected all my grammar mistakes!!

Sixth year is finally over. 

The Gryffindor common room is ablaze with light. A fire roaring in the hearth, lanterns strung up around the room and the bubble of student talking filling the air. There’s a general sense of exhaustion and relief from almost everyone in the room.

Mary’s no exception to this. She’s still recovering from the pressure of moving into sixth year, even without exams at the end of the year. The workloads increased and Mary found that she was counting off the days until she could do nothing but sleep and lay around all summer. 

Not that she is particularly studious; all her homework is in on time and she gets good marks, but it doesn’t come naturally to her. She prefers the fun side of magic, the things you can do after you’ve learnt all the spells. 

After nine months of studying and practicing and studying a bit more, she can’t wait for the two months break.

She slips into the common room, smiling at people she knows. There’s one empty armchair left so she quickly claims it for herself, curling her legs up.

“Hiya, Mary,” James Potter says, grinning down at her. 

He’s practically vibrating with energy, an infectious smile on his face as he bounces from foot to foot. It’s always perplexed Mary, how James can have so much energy all the time. The only time that she’s ever seen him still is after a Quidditch match or when he’s watching Lily, which she supposes he thinks no one knows about but it’s not like he tries to hid it- so Mary can’t help but notice.

“Have you seen Sirius?” He questions with a hand running through his hair.

“I thought I saw him near the kitchen but,” She shrugs, “I’m not sure if it was him.”

James scowls and scans the room. Mary looks around for Sirius too, she doesn’t see him but her eyes catch onto the dark red of Lily’s hair. She’s by the fire laughing with Marlene. 

She turns back to James, but his focus is purely on Lily.

Mary chuckles to herself. “He’s not here yet,”

His attention flicks back to her and she shifts a bit in the chair, there’s a spring that’s come out of place and it’s poking into her back. 

James is still stood next to her, but he’s not paying any attention. Mary pulls out her spare packet of biscuits and tears off the top. She’d picked them up that morning in case she encountered another poor soul suffering from end of year exhaustion like her.

“Biscuit?” She taps the packet against James' shoulder. 

“Thanks,” He starts munching as if he hasn’t eaten for months and she wonders if his constant appetite is a result of his height or if his height is a result of the appetite. Either way, she wishes that she could steal a little for herself -the height, not the appetite.

“Ah ha,” James exclaims suddenly.

Mary hears cheers by the door, along with the clinking of bottles. She takes James exclamation to mean that Sirius has arrived, no doubt with a crate full of butterbeer.

“Butterbeer, Mary?” James offers.

“I’m alright, thanks,” She smiles, and then he disappears off through the crowd. If she was a little less tired she would have said yes, but butterbeer makes her sleepy at the best of times.

The common room is nice and warm though and it’s making her even sleepier.  
Her jumper, one that she randomly threw on this morning, is a little too thick and the sleeves keep slipping down past her hands. She tugs the sleeves up her arms, sighing as the cool air drifts over her skin.

She shifts her legs and the crinkle of the biscuit packet reminds her they’re still there. She offers them to the group of seventh years next to her- mainly to stop herself from eating the rest of the packet.

There’s a bit of a ruckus from the fire and she can see that James and Sirius are at the centre of it. Lily is arguing with James, again, and Sirius and Remus are laughing from the sidelines. 

Sirius catches her eye and winks at her. She raises a hand, waving hello, she’s unwilling to give up her comfy seat. 

He disappears from the group for a moment and then reappears heading in her direction.

As she watches him approach, his face breaks into a grin, wide-eyed and happy and she feels her heart skip a beat. She can see lifetimes of happiness in his smile.

She can see herself pressing her lips to his, his grin making it hard for her to kiss him properly. Their laughs, as they try to stop laughing, wanting to kiss each other, but still so happy to be in each other’s arms.

Mary sees them hand-in-hand at their last day at Hogwarts, bidding him goodbye at King’s cross and then running back for one more kiss. She writes the letters she wants to send him in her head, full of life and hope and expectation.

She hears his laugh as he wishes her luck on her first day at work. Her own whispers in his ear as they wake up next to each other, groggy and sleep-deprived but wrapped around each other content. She can feel his arms slide around her waist as he slips into bed beside her.

She can feel the warmth of the sun on the day that James and Lily get married (because James and Lily getting married is an inevitability that Mary’s already excepted). She feels the swish of her bridesmaid dress and the bump as the bouquet falls into her hands. Lily winking at her and nodding her head in Sirius’ direction.

She feels the press of Sirus’s hand, a shiny gold ring on his finger, as they run down the aisle and then he wraps his arms around her, swinging her onto the dance floor.

She can smell the homeliness of their flat, tiny but paid for entirely with their own well-earned money. It’s a mix of muggle appliances with spells because no matter how hard she tries, she still can’t get Sirius adjusted to the sound of a toaster.

She can smell the sterility of the hospital where they’re all waiting for the arrival of a new Potter, Lily insistent that she wants muggle medicine as James flutters about nervously. 

She can smell that new baby smell as Sirius croons over their god-child. 

“A practise run?” He winks at her.

She can feel her ankles aching, being sleep-deprived but full of pure joy at the thought of children running around her feet. Little boys with her curly hair and girls with Sirius’s mischievous grin. The group of children running around on broomsticks as James, Sirius, Lily and Remus play with them all. Laughter and little voices echo around her head.

She can smell the steam of the Hogwarts Express as they wave them off from the station.

She can see the grey that creeps into Sirius’ hair, matched with the glasses he needs for reading. Mary thinks he’s never looked better and he tells her the same thing as she bemoans her first grey hair.

She can see them growing old together, arguing and laughing and fighting and making up. She can them having a life, with their friends surrounding them; growing old but not caring because they’re together.

And then she blinks.

She’s back in the common room. Only seventeen and about to start her life, not even finished with school. She chuckles to herself and shakes away the day-dream.

Then she remembers what started it in the first place. Sirius isn’t where she’d first spotted him; with all the jostling bodies moving around the room she can’t see him until he’s looming over her.

“Evening, MacDonald,” He smiles and then perches on the armrest.

She smiles back but wriggles down into the chair a little further, indicating that she’s not moving- no matter how nicely he asks.

“How are you feeling about seventh year?” He takes a sip of his butterbeer.

Mary groans, “I want to think about the holidays, not next year and getting a job and all those other things.”

She knows she was just thinking about all those things, but that was an ideal life; she hates being realistic but chances are her life won’t be like that. She can’t help hoping though.

He chuckles, “Don’t you wish it could all stop sometimes?”

“Then we’d be stuck at seventeen,” Mary points out.

He inclines his head, “That’s not so bad.”

“You wouldn’t be able to drink,” Sirius holds up his bottle of butterbeer, “Legally.”

“I’m already of age, MacDonald,” He grins down at her.

“It’s eighteen in the muggle world,” Mary says, realising her mistake. She’s been in the wizarding world for six years but some things still confuse her.

“Good job I’m not a muggle then,” He quips and then he freezes with his butterbeer halfway to his mouth. He turns to her, guilt heavy on his face, “Sorry.”

“I’m not really a muggle anymore either,” She pats his leg, “Not that I’m of age yet.”

It’s forever been a burden to her, being born in the summer. She loves being able to celebrate in the garden, with the flowers and the sun, but she doesn’t like being the last to be able to do things, legally at least.

Sirius winks, and offers his bottle of butterbeer. She wasn’t planning on drinking, but he’s offering and there’s only a little left in the bottle so she finishes it off.

“If everything stopped, then we’d be able to avoid grey hair forever,” Sirius says, leaning back on the armrest. He’s very precariously balanced, using his feet to stop himself falling onto the floor or on top of her.

Mary laughs at his statement, thinking back to her day-dream. “You wouldn’t look that bad,”

She pulls her hair out from where it got stuck under her arm, hoping it will cover the blush on her neck.

He runs a hand through his hair, as if considering what he would look like with a few grey streaks.

She scans the room, looking to see if James and Lily are still arguing. When she spots them she can see they’re talking, but it doesn’t look like an argument. Their conversation looks friendlier now, Lily smiling and James trying but failing to curb his enthusiasm.

A bag of digestive biscuits being waved in front of her face brings Mary’s attention back to Sirius.

“I found these circling the room,” Sirius smirks, “And I wondered who would have biscuits with her.”

Mary scoffs, as if he didn’t know who the biscuit belong to. He was one of the only people who knew that Mary always had a packet of biscuits close by and he knew how to take advantage of it as well.

“Sirius,” She says, glaring not at him but at the biscuits that he’s swinging around.

“Mary,” He says back, and he swings his legs around so their feet are touching. “This armrest isn’t very comfortable.”

She shuffles up in the chair, so she can look at him properly, “I’m not giving up the chair,”

If she could guarantee that one of the nicer sofas would empty if she gave up the armchair to Sirius then she would do it. But currently the rest of the chairs are occupied and the sofas have at least two couples making out on them and she isn’t willing to interrupt.

“I’ll let you have a biscuit,” She offers, even though he still has the biscuits and could easily just take one.

“Well,” Sirius grins and hands the packet back to her.

Later they do end up sharing the chair. The warmth from Sirius is lulling Mary into sleep, until she forces herself out of the chair, ignoring the slight disappointment etched on Sirius’s face. 

They bid each other goodnight and Mary presses her face into his chest when they hug, recording the smell of him in her head. 

She can’t get his smile out of her head.

Mary’s not in love with him. Not yet. But she knows she could be and that she’s not going to stop herself from falling. 

There’s a war going on but the hopeful part of her, the optimistic part, wants that future she imagined. 

So she hopes and she holds onto her ideal life even if she knows it might not work out like that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Say hi on [tumblr](https://willsdarcy.tumblr.com)


End file.
